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Santorum: Obama Has Put America On ‘The Path’ Of Executing Religious People

At CPAC, Fox Pundit Issues Shameful Attack On Rachel Maddow

JC Penney CEO: ‘Ellen Represents The Values Of Our Company’

Economy

New Hampshire Republicans Propose Bill To Eliminate Workers’ Lunch Breaks

By Pat Garofalo posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Feb 8, 2012 at 7:30 pm

New Hampshire’s GOP legislature has come up with all manner of absurd bills recently, including a proposal making public school curriculum optional, another to prevent police from protecting domestic abuse victims, and even a measure mandating that new laws be based on the Magna Carta. Some of the Granite State’s GOP lawmakers have even proposed doing away with the law that requires employers to give their workers time off for lunch, under the rationale that all employers will simply grant lunch breaks out of the goodness of their hearts:

“This is an unneeded law,” [Republican state Representative Kyle Jones] said. “If I was to deny one of my employees a break, I would be in a very bad position with the company’s human resources representative. If you consider that this is a very easy law to follow in that everyone already does it, then why do we need it? Our constituents have already proven that they have enough common sense to do this on their own.”

The bill’s sponsor, state representative J.R. Hoell, argued that companies failing to provide lunch breaks would be shamed over social media, thus rendering the law unnecessary. “If they are not letting people have lunch, they could put it out though the news media, though social media. I don’t think that abusive behavior would continue, the way communications are today,” he said.

Of course, not every employer can be counted to to follow even the easiest of requirements to look after workers’ health and rights. Back in 2005, Walmart was forced to pay $172 million for denying workers their lunch breaks. Pyramid Breweries Inc. settled a case in 2008 for $1.5 million. Just a few months ago, California ordered Embassy Suites to pay workers tens of thousands of dollars for forcing them to skip breaks.

“The fact that in 2012, I would be even sitting in front of the Labor Committee talking about eliminating the lunch hour is outrageous,” said Mark MacKenzie, New Hampshire’s state AFL-CIO representative. “People should at least be able to be given the opportunity to eat.” Fortunately, the bill does not seem too appealing to most of the New Hampshire legislature, and the state House’s labor committee adjourned yesterday without voting on it.

Health

Oklahoma Democrat Adds ‘Every Sperm Is Sacred’ Amendment To Personhood Bill

By Marie Diamond posted from ThinkProgress Health on Feb 8, 2012 at 6:40 pm

Despite being rebuffed by voters in Mississippi and Colorado, proponents of the “personhood” movement are still pushing to enact legislation in states like Ohio and Oklahoma that would give zygotes the same rights as American citizens. These bills would not only criminalize abortion in all circumstances, they would also outlaw common forms of contraception, as well as in vitro fertilization.

To poke fun at the absurdity of the measure, Oklahoma state Sen. Constance Johnson (D), has tacked on a provision affirming — in the words of a famous Monty Python song — that every sperm is sacred:

State Senator Constance Johnson of Oklahoma City has served Oklahoma’s 48th Senate District since 2005, but it was yesterday’s introduction of Senate Bill 1433 that really pushed her over the edge. The bill sought to define human life as beginning at the moment of conception, before it’s even implanted in the womb, and offers full legal protection to those tiny multicelled lumps. In the words of the bill, “the unborn child at every stage of development (has) all the rights, privileges, and immunities available to other persons, citizens, and residents of this state.”

Johnson submitted an amendment of her own to the bill, which would have added the language,

However, any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman’s vagina shall be interpreted and construed as an action against an unborn child.

Among other things, Johnson’s amendment would essentially outlaw oral sex, anal sex, and masturbation. Were it not a satirical bill, it would almost certainly be deemed unconstitutional.

To prove that her amendment was in jest, Johnson voted with her colleagues to table it later in the day. But it does illustrate a serious point: only about half of fertilized eggs develop into a pregnancy. If Republican lawmakers are willing to declare every cluster of cells with the potential to become a fetus a person, why stop at fertilized eggs? Why not sperm as well?

To protest the inherent sexism of the personhood bill, another Democratic senator attempted to add an amendment that would require the father of the child to be financially responsible for the mother’s health care, housing, and other expenses while she is pregnant.

NEWS FLASH

Over 650 Physicians Speak Out in Favor of Contraception Ruling | Over 650 physicians and medical students, including 70 self-identifying Catholics, from 49 states signed an open letter to President Obama and Secretary Kathleen Sebelius urging them to maintain a recent HHS contraception rule providing women access to cost-free contraception through their insurers. The petition, which was drafted by grassroots organization Doctors for America, argues that “Women and their doctors should be allowed to make contracpetive decisions based on medical reasons and personal beliefs — not based on someone else’s religious doctrine.” An infographic posted on the website points out that 11.2 million American women ages 15-44 use oral contraceptives, and 58 percent of them use contraception for reasons other than family planning. — Fatima Najiy

By Guest Blogger on Feb 8, 2012 at 6:10 pm

Economy

GOP Senator Slams Own Party For Fulfilling ‘Wall Street’s Wishes’ With Weak Insider Trading Bill

By Pat Garofalo posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Feb 8, 2012 at 5:23 pm

The Senate passed its version of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act by an overwhelming 96-3 margin. Included in the bill is a provision inserted by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) under which “Washington insiders who collect political intelligence and sell it to corporate America would have to register under the lobbying disclosure law.” “When these people come around to get information from you that they sell to hedge funds, that you’ll know who they are. You don’t know that now,” Grassley said in defense of the provision.

The House Republicans’ version of the bill, however, does not include Grassley’s provision. In fact, the House version, crafted by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), is significantly weaker than the Senate version, leading Grassley to slam his own party for granting “Wall Street’s wishes” on the legislation:

It’s astonishing and extremely disappointing that the House would fulfill Wall Street’s wishes by killing this provision. The Senate clearly voted to try to shed light on an industry that’s behind the scenes. If the Senate language is too broad, as opponents say, why not propose a solution instead of scrapping the provision altogether? I hope to see a vehicle for meaningful transparency through a House-Senate conference or other means. If Congress delays action, the political intelligence industry will stay in the shadows, just the way Wall Street likes it.

The House is planing to vote on its version of the STOCK Act this week. It’s worth remembering that, before he introduced this weak tea version of the legislation, Cantor blocked his own party from moving an insider trading bill at all.

NEWS FLASH

Mississippi Legislator Proposes Renaming Gulf Of Mexico As ‘Gulf Of America’ | Mississippi state Rep. Steve Holland (D) has introduced a bill that in Mississippi, would rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” According to HB 150, “For all official purposes within the State of Mississippi, the body of water that is located directly south of Hancock, Harrison and Jackson Counties shall be known as the ‘Gulf of America.’” The Mississippi House’s Marine Resources Committee will hold a hearing on the bill, and if it is approved by the legislature, Mississippi would begin recognizing the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” on July 1.

Health

With War On Contraception, GOP Lawmakers Seek To Deny Coverage To Others That They Enjoy

By Alex Seitz-Wald posted from ThinkProgress Health on Feb 8, 2012 at 4:10 pm

Republican congressional leaders are entering the fray over the Obama administration’s weeks-old decision to require employer-provided health insurance to cover contraception, including for some religious organizations that don’t employ a majority of people of that faith. The decision has been a hot topic on the campaign trail in recent days, but today, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) took the House floor to slam it, calling it an “unambiguous attack on religious freedom in our country” and vowed to repeal the regulation. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had a similarly sharp indictment yesterday. Watch it:

But missed in this debate is the fact Boehner and McConnell’s own health insurance plans covers contraception, something they now want to deny to others.

Since 1998, every insurer participating in the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program (FEHBP) — including members of Congress — has had access to comprehensive contraceptive coverage, including emergency contraception, such as the morning after pill. Republican lawmakers now want to prevent access to the coverage they enjoy to employees of religious organizations who may not be of that religion or who disagree with anti-contraception doctrine (89 percent of Catholics say contraception decision should be theirs, not the church’s).

Health

Six Republican Senators — Including Snowe And Collins — Co-Sponsored Federal Contraception Mandate In 2001

By Igor Volsky posted from ThinkProgress Health on Feb 8, 2012 at 3:25 pm

Republicans have gone to war against President Obama’s regulation requiring employers and insurers to provide contraception coverage, portraying the measure as a “government takeover” of health care and pledging to repeal the rule in Congress. The measure, which is part of the Affordable Care Act, says that companies offering coverage must also provide birth control insurance (but exempts houses of worship and nonprofits primarily employing and serving those of the same faith).

The Obama measure closely resembles state laws providing equity in insurance coverage for contraception in six states and actually offers far more conscience protections than previous Congressional efforts to expand women’s access to birth control. For instance, a 2001 bill co-sponsored by Republicans Sens. Olympia Snowe (ME), Susan Collins (ME), Lincoln Chafee (RI), Gordon Smith (OR), John Warner (VA), Arlen Specter (PA) — S. 104 — sought to establish parity for contraceptive prescriptions within the context of coverage already guaranteed by insurance plans, but offered no opt-out clause for religious groups who opposed contraception:

SEC. 714. STANDARDS RELATING TO BENEFITS FOR CONTRACEPTIVES.

`(a) REQUIREMENTS FOR COVERAGE- A group health plan, and a health insurance issuer providing health insurance coverage in connection with a group health plan, may not–

`(1) exclude or restrict benefits for prescription contraceptive drugs or devices approved by the Food and Drug Administration, or generic equivalents approved as substitutable by the Food and Drug Administration, if such plan provides benefits for other outpatient prescription drugs or devices; or

`(2) exclude or restrict benefits for outpatient contraceptive services if such plan provides benefits.

“Women shouldn’t be held hostage by virtue of where they live,” Snowe told a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in September of 2001. “It simply is not fair.” “All we’re saying in this legislation is that if health insurance plans provide coverage for prescription drugs that that coverage has to extend to FDA-approved prescription contraceptives. It’s that simple.”

At the time, religious groups also raised concerns about the measure and Snowe promised to add a “conscience clause” that is similar to the exemption included in Maine’s law. Incidentally, that language is very similar to the conscience protections included in Obama’s regulation.

Alyssa

Why CNN Suspended Liberal Roland Martin For Offensive Comments But Not Conservative Dana Loesch

By Alyssa Rosenberg posted from ThinkProgress Alyssa on Feb 8, 2012 at 2:56 pm

Roland Martin has been suspended from CNN after tweeting that, “If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham’s H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him! #superbowl.” He then insisted that, rather than making a joke about violence against men who are attracted to men, he really just hates soccer: “@DrMChatelain @notjustsexuality well that shows how ignorant you are. I rip on soccer all of the time. Learn to pay attention!”

It’s the second time in a month that CNN commentators have come under fire for controversial comments: Dana Loesch recently cheered reports of members of the United States Marine Corps urinating on the bodies of dead Afghans and suggested that had she been present, she would have joined in. But while Martin apologized and will experience an indefinite suspension, CNN and Loesch refused to apologize for her remarks, and she’s remained on the air.

The clear difference between the two cases? A sense that CNN’s audience was offended. GLAAD, which keeps a careful eye on defamation against gays and lesbians in the media, moved quickly to call for Martin’s dismissal and to track the network’s response to the incident. CNN got the message that its own constituents were upset, and that it would suffer consequences — or at least a lot of annoyance — if it failed to act.

Loesch’s comments on the other hand, offended human rights advocates and decent people everywhere. But that’s not the same as running afoul of an organization with a well-established plan to respond to these kinds of events and a well-worn path to media outlets who would cover and amplify their response. While Loesch’s comments were reprehensible, there was also no organized group who was likely or able to hold CNN accountable for her words, and for continuing to let her appear on-air without penalty.

Taken together, the way CNN handled Martin’s and Loesch’s comments makes it look like CNN has no consistent internal values, and no internal standard for how to respond when it commenters express sentiments that are an anathema to those values. I’m glad to know, per CNN’s statement, that “Language that demeans is inconsistent with the values and culture of our organization, and is not tolerated.” But why should it take several days of consideration for CNN to arrive at that conclusion? If the network’s truly committed to the proposition that violence against gay people is no joking matter, that’s something it should know in advance, and CNN should have a personnel policy in place to determine what the appropriate penalty is when someone violates their standards. Similarly, whether Loesch’s comments violate CNN’s internal values shouldn’t be something that’s determined by the level of outrage outside the network’s headquarters.

Update

[By Zack Ford] As reported by AMERICAblog Gay, Martin’s wife, Jacquie Hood Martin, has responded angrily to news of his suspension, suggesting that GLAAD is somehow racist and has misused the history of the civil rights movement:

She also attacked CNN, saying it has no “brand” and doesn’t deserve to be in business:

Update

Jacquie Hood Martin has deleted her entire Twitter account.

Justice

Santorum Invents New Front In Fake War On Religion: Obama Wants Female Catholic Priests

By Ian Millhiser posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Feb 8, 2012 at 2:00 pm

For weeks, Republicans have pretended that President Obama is waging some kind of war on religion because his administration recently approved regulations requiring insurers to cover contraceptive care — spurred on in large part because the conservative U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops opposes the contraceptive care regulations. Their claim is utterly absurd. The new rules exempt churches from the requirement to offer insurance that covers contraception. And they align closely with the beliefs of actual Catholics, 58 percent of whom believe that employers should be required to provide insurance that cover contraception.

On Fox News this morning, GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum doubled down on this bizarre claim that Obama is going after religion — falsely claiming that the president wants to tell Catholics who they can hire as priests:

What they’ve done here is a direct assault on the First Amendment, not only a direct assault on the freedom of religion, by forcing people specifically to do things that are against their religious teachings. . . . This is a president who, just recently, in this Hosanna-Tabor case was basically making the argument that Catholics had to, you know, maybe even had to go so far as to hire women priests to comply with employment discrimination issues. This is a very hostile president to people of faith. He’s a hostile president, not just to people of faith, but to all freedoms.

Watch it:

It’s not clear exactly which First Amendment Santorum is talking about here, because he clearly isn’t talking about the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. As conservative (and Catholic) Justice Antonin Scalia explained in a Supreme Court opinion more than twenty years ago, a law does not suddenly become unconstitutional because someone raises a religious objective to it — if this actually were true, anyone at all could immunize themselves from paying taxes or from any other law simply by claiming they have a religious objection to being a law-abiding citizen.

Moreover, Santorum’s claim that the Obama Administration wants to force Catholics to hire female priests (something which, incidentally, 53 percent of Catholics support) is the opposite of true. The Obama Administration’s brief in the case Santorum cites expressly stated that it would be unconstitutional to tell the Catholic church to do so, a fact that Santorum would have been aware of if he had actually bothered to read the Supreme Court’s opinion in Hosanna-Tabor. That opinion explains that the administration “grant[s] . . . that it would violate the First Amendment for courts to apply [anti-discrimination] laws to compel the ordination of women by the Catholic Church or by an Orthodox Jewish seminary.”

Ultimately, however, Santorum’s objection to the president doesn’t come down to some paranoid debate over whether President Obama is hostile to “all freedoms,” but a very important debate over what the word freedom actually means. President Obama does believe that women’s access to contraceptive care is fundamentally important to ensuring their freedom to participate in society and the in the workforce. Santorum, on the other hand, harshly criticized the Supreme Court’s longstanding decision saying that woman have a constitutional right to use birth control at all. Given that Santorum’s long history of radicalism on women’s health and the Constitution, it’s no surprise that he couldn’t be bothered to check basic facts before mouthing off about what the Obama Administration does and does not believe.

Economy

Massachusetts Economy Was ‘Below Average And Often Near The Bottom’ During Romney’s Time As Governor

By Travis Waldron posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Feb 8, 2012 at 1:15 pm

Mitt Romney has built his presidential campaign on his expertise as a job creator, telling crowds at campaign rallies that only he has the experience to create the jobs our economy needs. His critique of President Obama’s performance, meanwhile, pulls no punches, as Romney often claims (falsely) that Obama “made the economy worse.”

Romney prefers to focus on his past as a corporate executive at Bain Capital, where he often invested in companies and laid off workers while reaping huge profits. But a closer look at Romney’s governorship of Massachusetts, from 2003 to 2007, reveals that his “experience” as a job-creator isn’t all that great. In fact, Massachusetts lagged behind the nation in virtually every economic measure, Andrew Sum, an economics professor at Northeastern University, told the Washington Post:

“There was not one measure where the state did well under his term in office. We were below average and often near the bottom,” said Sum, who is also the director of Northeastern’s Center for Labor Market Studies.

Romney’s campaign points out that he took over the state during a downturn, which is true. But Massachusetts was 47th in the nation in job creation during Romney’s time as governor, and by the beginning of the Great Recession, it still had not replaced 100,000 jobs lost to the 2001 recession, making it one of only four states not to have replaced all its lost jobs over that time period. The state’s jobs record during that time more closely resembled those of Rust Belt manufacturing states like Michigan and Ohio than the high-tech economies of New York and North Carolina, two states to which it had once compared itself.

While the unemployment rate under Romney did fall, it was largely due to contraction of the labor force — a criticism Romney has often leveled at Obama. According to Sum, the only state that saw a sharper drop in its labor force during Romney’s tenure was Louisiana, the state that was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Without Romney in command, the state’s economy has rebounded much faster from the next recession it faced, creating jobs at nearly twice the national rate and ranking in the top 10 nationally. Romney is banking his presidential campaign on his experience creating jobs and leading an economy out of a downturn. If these numbers are any indication, that’s an experience the American people may not want.

Health

Nation’s Largest Catholic University: We Offer ‘A Prescription Contraceptive Benefit’

By Igor Volsky posted from ThinkProgress Health on Feb 8, 2012 at 12:30 pm

The largest Catholic university in the nation has admitted to providing contraception coverage as part of its health care benefit package, further undermining the GOP’s claims that Obama’s regulation requiring insurers and employers to offer reproductive health benefits represents and “unprecedented” war against religion. The rule — which exempts houses of worship and nonprofits that primarily employ and serve people of faith from providing contraception coverage — mirrors existing requirements in six states.

“The employee health insurance plans include a prescription contraceptive benefit, in compliance with state and federal law,” DePaul University spokesperson Robin Florzak confirmed to ThinkProgress. “An optional insurance plan that covers such benefits is available to students, also due to previously established state and federal requirements.” The University notes, however, that it is disappointed with the Obama regulation and hopes to engage in an “effective national conversation on the appropriate conscience protections in our pluralistic country.” Other Catholic colleges and hospitals, including Georgetown and the six former Caritas Christi Catholic hospitals in Massachusetts, have also admitted to offering birth control benefits.

DePaul’s home state of Illinois is one of 28 to have adopted a contraception coverage requirement. Eight of those states provide no opt-out clause for religious institutions and the administration’s new rule would expand conscience protections to those parts of the country.

A recent poll conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute also found that a majority of Americans, including a majority of Catholics, support a contraception coverage requirement.

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Health

Another Anti-Abortion Smart Phone: Android App ‘Iris’ Calls Abortion ‘Wrong,’ Cites The Bible

By Marie Diamond posted from ThinkProgress Health on Feb 8, 2012 at 11:45 am

Hellfire and brimstone in the palm of your hand.

A few months ago tech giant Apple had some explaining to do when iPhone users discovered that the voice-activated assistant Siri was giving women misleading information about emergency contraception and abortion services.

Now Right Wing Watch reports that Siri may well have an evil twin sister in the form of Iris, the popular app for Verizon’s Android:

Iris – Siri spelled backwards – is the popular electronic assistant available for Android phones. It’s been downloaded over 1 million times and is powered by ChaCha, the Internet’s “leading answers service with more than a billion questions answered.” In other words, Iris may be a knockoff, but it’s no joke.

That’s why we were surprised when we saw the Family Research Council crowing about the Android being “as pro-life as they come” and watched their video…Iris’ answers are drawn from ChaCha, which provided a string of anti-choice answers to our questions:

Anti-abortion activists are celebrating the discovery of a kindred electronic ideologue. But Right Wing Watch notes that Iris doesn’t give such dogmatic answers to other controversial questions. For instance, “Iris failed to quote scripture in response to questions about adultery, birth control, homosexuality, working on the Sabbath, and eating shellfish (which are an ‘abomination before the Lord).”

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LGBT

Ellen Responds To ‘One Million Moms’ Boycott Of JC Penney: ‘My Haters Are My Motivators’

By Igor Volsky posted from ThinkProgress LGBT on Feb 8, 2012 at 11:00 am

Ellen DeGeneres confronted the ‘One Million Moms’ boycott of her partnership with J.C. Penney on her daytime talk show yesterday with trademark humor quipping, “normally I don’t like to pay attention to my haters, but this time I’d like to talk about it because my haters are my motivators.” The anti-gay group, part of the American Family Association, is claiming that the store is undermining “traditional families” by selecting DeGeneres as its spokesperson.

On the show, DeGeneres read some of the supportive comments her fans left on the the group’s Facebook page and then explained her values:

I usually don’t talk about stuff like this on my show. But I really want to thank everyone who is supporting me. And if you don’t know me very well, if you’re just watching maybe for the the first time or you’re just getting to know me I want to be clear. And here are the values that I stand for. I stand for honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you want to be treated and helping those in need. To me those are traditional values, that’s what I stand for.

Watch it:

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Politics

The Incredible Shrinking Mitt: Romney’s 2008 Support Crumbles In Three Key States

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Feb 8, 2012 at 10:15 am

Rick Santorum decisively swept all three primary contests last night, shattering the myth of inevitability that presumed front-runner Mitt Romney has tried to construct. While the vote in Missouri assigned no delegates, the results there and in Colorado and Minnesota nonetheless show a clear refutation of Romney in states that will be battlegrounds in the general election.

But there is even more troubling news for Romney. As ThinkProgress has noted, Republican turnout has been down in virtually every primary so far, suggesting a lack of enthusiasm for Romney and the rest of the GOP field. But last night’s results are far more severe. Turnout was not just down but down tremendously, and in many places, Romney was unable to capture anywhere close to as many votes as he won in 2008.

Romney won Colorado with 60 percent of the vote four years ago, and its demographics favored the candidate, but this year, Romney won just 34.9 percent of the vote, coming 6 points shy of Santorum. In Minnesota, which Romney won with 41 percent of the vote in 2008, he won just 16.9 percent last night — coming in third behind Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX). And in Missouri, Romney was down slightly, from 29 percent in 2008 to 25.3 percent last night.

Looking at the vote totals, instead of percentages, which takes into account voter turnout, the numbers are even worse for Romney, as this graphic produced by ThinkProgress’ Adam Peck shows:

In some places, Romney’s collapse was even more stunning. As the New York Times’ Nate Silver noted, “Romney’s stronger areas in [Colorado] were associated with turnout declines of about 20 percent. But turnout was steady or slightly up in places where Rick Santorum did well.” For instance, in Pueblo County, where turnout was actually up, Romney took just 27 percent of the vote — a huge drop from the 62 percent he won in 2008. And in the Denver suburbs, which Romney won, he was still way down from 2008. In Douglas County, Romney went from 72 percent in 2008 to 46 percent; in Arapaho County, he went from 66 percent to 45 percent; and in Jeffferson County, he went from 65 percent to 39 percent.

Romney won comfortably in earlier primaries in Florida and Nevada, but only after drowning his competitors in millions of dollars of negative advertising. Romney’s campaign did not invest heavily in last night’s primaries, suggesting the candidate may have hard time winning on his own, without spending huge amounts to destory his competition in every state.

The results also seem to confirm the findings of a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, which showed that the more people learn about Mitt Romney, the less they like him.

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Health

Mitt Romney Is Financially Invested In The Birth Control He Seeks To Restrict

By Igor Volsky posted from ThinkProgress Health on Feb 8, 2012 at 9:45 am

Mitt Romney has attacked the Obama administration’s regulation requiring employers and insurers to provide reproductive health care services — including contraception — by arguing that the rule is undermining the religious liberties of Catholics and imposing “a secular vision on Americans who believe that they should not have their religious freedom taken away.” As ThinkProgress has reported, Romney’s newfound sensitivities contradict his record as governor of Massachusetts — where he accepted a very similar contraception equity law — and his previous public commitments to increasing public funding for birth control. In 2005, Romney even asked the Massachusetts Department of Health to issue regulations requiring all hospitals to issue emergency contraception to rape victims, without providing an exception for Catholic hospitals.

Now, an examination of Romney’s financial investments reveals that the very same GOP frontrunner who is now petitioning the White House to extend the regulation’s conscience clause and exclude more women from the benefits of birth control is himself invested in and profiting from pharmaceutical companies that produce the frequently prescribed and extremely common medication:

Romney’s Goldman Sachs 2002 Exchange Place Fund, valued at over a million dollars in 2010, brought in nearly $600,000 in gains in 2010 and is invested in:

- Watson Pharmaceuticals: manufacturer of nine forms of emergency contraception (which Romney incorrectly identifies as “abortifacients“).
- Johnson & Johnson: launched the first U.S. prescription birth control product in 1931 and produces various forms of birth control.
- Merck: produces various forms of birth control
- Mylan: produces birth control medication and filed the first application for a generic birth control pill last year.
- Pfizer: a contraception producer that recently had to recall about a million packs of birth-control pills that weren’t packaged correctly.

Romney often disclaims any responsibility for or knowledge of his own investments by claiming that they are held in a private trust. But since filing his legally-required public financial disclosure reports and certifying that the information is “true, complete, and correct” to the best of his knowledge, the trust ceased to be a “blind trust” as he knew what was in it. Romney signed such disclosure forms last August and during his unsuccessful 2008 presidential bid in August 2007.

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NEWS FLASH

Conspiracy Theorist Sweeps Tuesday’s GOP Presidential Battles | Conspiracy theorist Rick Santorum swept Tuesday’s Republican presidential battles, winning the sparsely attended Colorado and Minnesota caucuses and non-binding Missouri primary on a platform anchored by his denial of global warming. “I for one never bought the hoax,” Santorum said at the Colorado Energy Summit on Monday, claiming that climate change is “an absolute travesty of scientific research that was motivated by those who, in my opinion, saw this as an opportunity to create a panic and a crisis for government to be able to step in and even more greatly control your life.”

Politics

Morning Briefing: February 8, 2012

By ThinkProgress on Feb 8, 2012 at 9:00 am

With US troops withdrawn, the State Department is finding it difficult to do their job in Iraq and is preparing to downsize its staff at the embassy in Baghdad by as much as half in the coming weeks, a stunning reversal after a huge buildup, the New York Times reports.

Members of a bipartisan negotiating committee can’t agree on how to pay for another payroll tax cut extension, dashing “any hope for a quick a quiet resolution” before the current extension expires at the end of the month. Senate Democrats have pledged to put forth their own bill if negotiators can’t agree.

The longest serving person in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Dan Inouye (D-HI) blasted Senate hopeful and former Rep. Pete Hoesktra (R-MI) for his controversial ad playing on Asian stereotypes. “His racist thoughts are not welcome in the United States Senate,” Inouye, who is Asian-American, said.

Rick Santorum swept all three GOP primaries last night in Colorado, Missouri, and Minnesota, dealing a severe blow to Mitt Romney, who has tried to present his nomination as inevitable.

Newly amended forms for the pro-Romney super PAC reveal that another Bain exec and his wife are the people behind a mysterious $250,000 donation.

In its comprehensive examination of federal disclosure forms, the Washington Post has discovered that members of Congress have steered millions of taxpayer dollars to institutions where their relatives work. The Post found 16 representatives whose actions aided their immediate families.

The CBO on Tuesday reported that the budget deficit fell sharply in January, from $50 billion a year ago to $27 billion last month. The improved numbers were attributable to higher tax collections from individuals and lower outlays. January’s numbers bring the total deficit reduction to around $70 billion for the first four months of fiscal year 2012, which began on October 1.

The government’s proposed settlement with banks over their mortgage and foreclosure practices was dealt another setback last night when New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) canceled a news conference where he was expected to endorse the deal. Officials are still intent on finalizing the deal this week, even as multiple states continue to holdout.

And finally: Someday, wrestler/actor “The Rock” will save the world, but not yet, he said in a recent interview. “Right now, the best way that I can impact the world is through entertainment,” he said. “One day, and that day will come, I can impact the world through politics. The great news is that I am American, therefore I can become President.”

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